I noticed this dilapidated facade with a beautiful street art on the door. I was looking for an angle to take its picture (there was a red car parked outside the door) so I moved from one place to another on the street with my camera in front of my face. This place was obviously a bakery that seemed to have closed its doors quite a while ago. Suddenly, a beautiful elderly lady approached me and asked, without preamble, if I was a city employee. I was a little surprised by this very direct question and I told her I wasn’t. She softened her tone and told me that the bakery and the building had been abandoned for over 20 years and that the residents of the street were making regular requests to the city to renovate it. She was very discouraged by the inaction of the city. She also told me that she lived in the building behind the old bakery and, formerly, her apartment was well heated by the bakery’s ovens…

Les explications de la dame m’ont incité à faire le tour de l’immeuble où j’ai pu constater l’état de délabrement de l’immeuble avec ses fenêtres condamnées même s’il avait encore des rideaux…Un peu plus tard dans ma balade, j’ai recroisé la dame qui m’a souri et souhaité une belle journée. / The lady’s explanations made ​​me take a look around where I could see the dilapidated state of the building with its condemned windows though they still had curtains…A little later during my stroll, I saw the lady again; she smiled at me and wished me a nice day.

Cette histoire m’a un peu attristé quand on sait que le besoin de logement est si criant à Paris; on se demande bien comment il est possible de laisser un immeuble à l’abandon pour une si longue période. Cela fait de beaux sujets de photographie, mais ce n’est pas une bonne situation pour les résidents de Paris. / This story quite saddened me as we know that the need for housing is so acute in Paris; one wonders how it is possible to leave a building abandoned for such a long time. This situation makes for beautiful photography subjects, but it isn’t good for the residents of Paris.

Is the city responsible for abandoned buildings or the property owner? I would think there would be money in renovating this property. Nice story, particularly about the elderly lady wanting the bakery fixed up so she could get her heat back. Love it.

Thanks Kongo. I truly don’t know who is responsible but the city would have powers to either force the owners to renovate or to take it over…it is always baffling to me to find abandoned buildings in Paris as you are right there should be money to be made…